A new home for Sweetcroft Home Property Developers
A Portfolio for a Property Developer
We worked with Anderson Property Communication to plan, and build a portfolio website for Sweetcroft Homes listing developments and properties for sale.
The opportunity
A printed development brochure or a photo in an estate agency window is no longer sufficient, buyers want to browse new properties on a professional website at any time or device and expect the experience to be visually on par as the properties themselves. Anderson Property Communication are a trusted partner of Sweetcroft Homes and asked Parasola to build a WordPress portfolio website to showcase their luxury property developments.
The design of Sweetcroft Home's website had some elements which were right at the time but which were now out of date.
The out-of-date boxed page layout lacked impact
Generic typography and use of web safe fonts such as Arial and Helvetica. We can now use Adobe Typekit or Google Fonts to display custom typefaces.
A mixed content blocking notice indicating that not all assets are being served over HTTPS.
Inconsistent design - several developments had mini sites produced using Squarespace templates.
A poor mobile experience
Defining the structure
The whole site was to be a marketing brochure - with precisely placed text and incredible images of the properties inside and out. Images were selected to support the text. During screen-share calls with the client, we discussed competitor websites and the designs of other businesses who have similar customers.
Whilst Martin at Anderson Property Communication focused on creating a website design in keeping with the brochures that he regularly prints for Sweetcroft Homes, we planned the structure, navigation and content hierarchy.
The purpose of the site was to encourage people to register their interest in a single property or development by completing a form. The whole site was structured to that aim.
A full page slider homepage
Page listing current developments
Single development page
Single property page
Building the website
The number of properties, developments on the website would change regularly as would their information and status and so the WordPress CMS required new content types such as property and development. A parent and child relationship was setup between the development and property. This allowed us to easily list properties within each development. Each property had many custom fields store data such as availability (sold, reserved etc) and this was related to a site map with pins. When a visitor clicks on a property, a side bar slides into place.
Each development can have a site map. The CMS allows administrators to easily upload new site maps and to drag and drop pins linked to properties onto the maps. The pins colours indicate whether a property is available, reserved, sold or unreleased. We added animations and a tooltip label showing the property name and plot number. Clicking on a pin causes a card to fade in which displays more information and invites the visitor to move to the single property page.
At the bottom of each single development page is information on how to find the development. Some developments will not be complete and have a postcode so we used Plus Codes which are based on latitude and longitude to show the site on a Google Map.
Highlights
Parallax scrolling effect on background hero images
Adobe Typekit fonts
Story section images and text animate in as the enter the viewport
Forms are context aware and auto populate details of current property or development being viewed.
When a development is completed or property sold, the information shown is updated.
The CLient
Sweetcroft are Oxfordshire's premier bespoke house builders. They create unique, family homes in Oxfordshire that are designed for today but fit for the future.
Parasola was founded by Paul Dyke, a Digital Design professional in 2019. He has worked with top brands including McDonald's, Lloyds Bank and The National Lottery and wants to help brands to improve their visual design.
